Hello " much wiser gardening people than I "! I need suggestions regarding hearty yet fragrant climbing roses for a privacy fence. Actually, it's a snow fence we erected to prevent people from cutting across our front yard. Such are the woes of we who live on corner lots. Once we eradicate the dreaded, well established trumpet vines we have there now ... ( no problem with some illegal napalm, dynamite, and a back hoe, BUT they HAVE to go and they WILL, this Fall ) ... I need some advice on which roses to plant. I know nothing of growing roses, other than the fact that they need sun. The fence, which is approximately thirteen feet long, is on the South side of the property, with no shade from trees. That also means no protection from Winter cold.

So, any ideas? I could even forego the fragrant thing, as long as the roses flower all season ... ( is this possible? ) ... and are profuse with blooms. I wish it to look as beautiful as possible. I realise climbers take awhile to establish themselves, but I am patient. I just don't want to have to live another ten years before I see flowers. I'm not exactly a Spring chicken.

This is my plight. I need your help, and I welcome any and every suggestion you have. Thank you SOOOOOO much!

There are many climbers but I only know and like the older ones, the more recent type are grown more for flower size, colour and this has resulted in no perfume,
My best ones to look for are:

Ziphirine Droubin, this has beautiful flowers (Bourbon double flowers) Thorn-less and pale foliage, and perfume however, can be prone to mildew so you have to keep an eye on it and allow a free air flow around it which helps protect from mildew.

Dorothy Perkins, Pink, this is a Rambler Rose (OLD) but again has mildew trouble if not growing with an airflow around it, Double flowers and perfume, not as tall as others but does flower for ages.

Golder Showers, pale gold flowers, perfumed, like all climbers, can have the normal rose problems of black spot or mildew, but there are hundreds of Climbing Roses, you should go to the local library to look for books on Roses and their needs for each situation, or try the Book stores where you can sit with a nice coffee and write down notes.
Good luck, WeeNel.

I agree with you too Moonhowl, my brother and sister-in-law live North Ontario and love to visit the rose gardens here in UK because they cant grow many where they are, however, I know my sister-in-law grows some up trellis on the house wall where the soil don't freeze, she throws loads of leaf mold etc over the root area, cut's the top growth back a bit, not too much as she needs to cut off dead wood in spring, but they do survive with the up-most of care, but as you said, not all kinds of Roses are hardy enough.

Maybe Manx cat could find out tested named varieties from a gardening club etc in the area they live. hope so, cause half the fun is testing your skills a bit.
Happy gardening WeeNel.

I agree, Nell. It is fun to push the envelope sometimes, and I do with tropicals here...but not knowing the garden skills of someone requesting info or suggestions, I do try to give them a bit of an edge for success. Those listed are fragrant, hardy and a couple are repeat bloomers. Also, being in zone 8b/9a makes it a bit hard to imagine anything growing/surviving a zone 3 winter...grin

It helps greatly if new gardeners could get into the habit of going to their local library or book store where they could read up on plants that they are interested in, I love trolling second hand book stores and for next to nothing, you can pick up OLD gardening books where you get much more info than modern gardening books.
You pick up hints re what plants can tolerate by the info of where they originally came from, there local and environment from place of origin, then you can read, imagine, learn etc what a tree shrub/plant will need regards soil, temp, humidity etc, so as well as getting our hands dirty we should teach ourselves to read up as much as possible. Anyway, what better way to pass the dark colder evenings of winter than reading a gardening book of plants, the new catalogers or bulb to order from suppliers.
Happy gardening Themoon.
Weenel.

Oh I agree. Hard to beat a snuggley blanket, a cup of tea and a good garden catalogue/book to help while away the winter. There is something so much more satisfying in the weight of a book rather than the glare of a monitor...grin.

Pickering Nurseries is an excellent source for roses. One thing I really like about Pickering is they are located in Canada and grown out in the fields, so you know they are hardy roses. They can be found at www.pickeringnurseries.com.

I have found that climbing roses do take a good 2-3 years to get to any height. One of my favorites is New Dawn, it is hardy and fragrant. Give ND a try - it should be hardy in your zone.

WeeNel wrote:It helps greatly if new gardeners could get into the habit of going to their local library or book store where they could read up on plants that they are interested in, I love trolling second hand book stores and for next to nothing, you can pick up OLD gardening books where you get much more info than modern gardening books.
You pick up hints re what plants can tolerate by the info of where they originally came from, there local and environment from place of origin, then you can read, imagine, learn etc what a tree shrub/plant will need regards soil, temp, humidity etc, so as well as getting our hands dirty we should teach ourselves to read up as much as possible. Anyway, what better way to pass the dark colder evenings of winter than reading a gardening book of plants, the new catalogers or bulb to order from suppliers.
Happy gardening Themoon.
Weenel.

Weenel, your advice applies extremely well to your area, as the great bulk of gardening books through time (e.g. "OLD gardening books") have originated from and apply to your general area and conditions. However, the authors of most traditional and mainstream gardening books could scarcely even imagine that plant life is possible in zone 3, let alone provide meaningful advice on growing it. I find that traditional gardening books generally fail to acknowledge a plant's native conditions or zone or natural hardiness, unfortunately, and instead fall back on only garden observations. It is only in relatively recent times that local gardening publications have arisen that are useful for areas that are outside the "mainstream" gardening areas. So, I agree with you that books are really useful, but need to be taken with grain of salt, given that they are mostly not aimed at our cold zones. There is nothing more useful than experience - grow the plant yourself to find out what it's limitations truly are.